Veterans Increasingly Becoming Victims of Violent Crime in the U.S.

The people who lay their lives on the line for their country are encountering violent crime for a variety of reasons.

Marine Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield Marine Corps photo courtesy: blog.cleveland.com

(SALEM, Ore.) - Criminal, violent acts against American combat veterans are on the rise in the streets of this nation. It may not be anything new, but there does appear to be an increase in the number of crimes taking place against people who once served in uniform. Some of it relates to chance, but several of the reported cases apparently involved veterans specifically being targeted.

One recent story involves a 21-year old Marine Lance Corporal named Robert Crutchfield, who survived 14 months of intense fighting in Iraq, only to be gunned down by robbers at home on leave during the Christmas holiday, on January 5th. It happened at a bus stop at East 72nd Street and Superior Avenue in Cleveland, Ohio; in America's heartland.

The really sickening part is that this happened while the Marine was in uniform, with his girlfriend, grocery shopping. He was not allowed to live the American dream; his life was cut short by cold steel fired from the hand of someone who stole far more than a life, far more than dreams. According to newspaper reports, Robert Crutchfield stepped out of the bus shelter and was grabbed by two men who threw him against a telephone pole.

Cleveland Police Lt. Thomas Stacho told reporters with The Plain Dealer, that 19-year old Ean Farrow, and 20-year old Thomas Ray III, both of Cleveland, rifled through the Marine's pockets before one of them shot him in the neck.

Stacho said both men were arrested shortly after the incident and charged with attempted murder, aggravated robbery and felonious assault. Prosecutors were expected to file additional charges as well.

That is because even though Robert Crutchfield survived the shooting initially, and spent weeks rehabilitating at a Medical Center and a nursing home, he suddenly came down with a high fever and an infection, then suffered a massive heart attack. His grandmother and sister were at his bedside. He was 21-years old. His family said they wish he had stayed in Iraq longer.

No family should have to say anything like that.

Combat Vets: Not Always a Good Pick for Criminals

We recently relayed the story of a 71-year old retired Marine who shot two armed robbers who picked on the wrong guy in a Florida sandwich shop. This veteran had a concealed weapons permit and was legally armed. (see: Family Of Robbery Suspect Blames Retired Marine for Fatal Shooting)

In that same article, was the tragic legacy of one of the Marine Corps' top pilots of WWII, Marion Carl, who was killed by home invaders in Oregon in 1998 while defending his wife's life. It seems that heroism does not make a person immune from the crudest and most depraved criminal acts. The problem is growing and the number of damaged veterans is increasing.

When I was covering the war in Afghanistan, I met an Oregon Guard soldier who told me about being hassled at a party while home on leave when people in attendance learned he was fighting in Afghanistan. That happened in Portland, Oregon. He said attitudes were bad toward all U.S. military forces and this happened in late 2006. It appears that the sheer and almost unrivaled contempt young Americans hold for the Bush team in the White House, amounts to "trickle down hatred" for our soldiers here in the states.

People are very passionate about this and almost everyone runs for one team or the other when this type of discussion arises, rather than staying in the middle of the road where there is reason and people can see eye to eye. I know that for the most part, the anti-war people have been very clear about still supporting the troops.

But right wing talk show hosts like Bill O'Reilly have repeatedly accused anti-war groups of not supporting U.S. troops in spite of how many times they have stated and shown otherwise.

Another important piece is that some of the loudest anti-war voices are coming from the veterans themselves, through groups like Iraq Veterans Against the War. They are comprised entirely of veterans. In the end, I do not think that people like O'Reilly are doing any one very much good by stating things repeatedly that are not true and completely negative. I do not see how his politics could possibly help the situation we are now in.

One of the most interesting response-drawing articles I have ever written, questions the whole notion of veterans being spat on during the Vietnam War. It is a story told a thousand times in a thousand ways but as it turns out, the whole thing is mostly an anti-left wing political tool. (see: Who really Spat on Veterans During the Vietnam War?) After all, it is hard to imagine a combat veteran letting a hippie stand there and spit on them. Life doesn't quite work that way. It certainly is possible that it happened on a few occasions, and that is what the article is about.

"Bum Stomping"

One component of war is the trauma that surviving combat veterans have to live with for the rest of their lives. Some find a way to file it away and move on without reacting to the adverse psychological effects. These are often individuals who move into law enforcement and other more traditional careers where an inner-support network allows them to cope. For others, the experiences of war come back as nightmares and other haunting emotional experiences. Salem-News.com's Dr. Phil Leveque is a WWII combat veteran and a PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) survivor. He says PTSD affects people on a scale of 1 to 10. People at the high end are often very difficult cases, while people at the other end of the scale can often manage PTSD very well.

The bottom line is that war is Hell and people see things and do things in war that they are unable to forget. Many lives inevitably spin out of control because people never properly heal or find the support necessary in changing their lives.

Many of these veterans turn to alcohol and street drugs to maintain distance from their demons, while destroying their bodies in the process. The Vietnam War produced a large number of men who today live as homeless addicts. In recent years these men have become murder victims through an act cruel people refer to as "bum stomping." This takes place in big cities and small towns and there are so many cases now that we could never list them all. These are all murders that were allowed to happen ultimately, because of these men's experiences in war. It is tragic and each one is another piece of evidence that shows how poorly the United States treats veterans.

People with mental illness are always the easiest group to take funding away from. Ronald Reagan knew this and removed funding that once cared for mentally handicapped people. He used money once intended for them to create what is remembered as "Reaganomics."

In this society, we go backward and forward at the same time, it seems. We make strides and advancements, but then allow ourselves to step back, sometimes farther to the rear than when we started. Oregon has the distinction of being the state depicted in the movie "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". It may not have made the system look good, but at least then there was a system. We have as a nation, kicked the mentally ill to the curb. This is why "bum stomping" is happening; and our miserable system of laws that incarcerate people for stupid things like marijuana possession, keeps the cells full of the wrong people all the time, and keeps resources from going after real crimes.

Bush's Part

Not a chance in Hell that this presidential administration isn't wearing this one square on their forehead. Bush and his team has hardly done a single good thing for veterans in the last seven years that was not a result of some type of public exposure by the media. From the unarmored HUMVEE's, to Walter Reed, to one embarrassing blunder after another by the VA about things like veteran suicide numbers, they are all response and never anything proactive. They have not a clue what a mess they have created for our own people and how many years we will struggle with it. Here are several articles that relate to that specifically:

Bush Lawyers Fight Tooth and Nail to Deny VA Healthcare Benefits

VA Inadvertently Confirms that a Thousand Vets a Month are Attempting Suicide

Veterans Administration System: How Bad Can it Get?

VA and PTSD Suicides: Medical Malpractice Fraud

VA Busted Again Over Poor Diagnosis and Mistreatment of PTSD Vets

For the most comprehensive information available on American veterans who have fallen during the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, please visit IraqWarHeroes.org. The site's founder Q Madp includes among his list of casualties, people like Marine Lance Corporal Robert Crutchfield, even if they did not die until returning home from the war. Q's efforts are extremely important to the families of those who pay the ultimate price. It is not about politics at all. If you can, please make a donation to Q as he travels constantly to military funerals to record them for the families at no cost.

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Tim King is a former U.S. Marine with twenty years of experience on the west coast as a television news producer, photojournalist, reporter and assignment editor. Today, in addition to his role as a war correspondent in Afghanistan where he spent the winter of 2006/07, this Los Angeles native serves as Salem-News.com's Executive News Editor. Salem-News.com is the nation's only truly independent high traffic news Website, affiliated with Google News and several other major search engines and news aggregators. Tim's coverage from Iraq that was set to begin in April has been delayed and may not take place until August, 2008. You can send Tim an email at this address: newsroom@salem-news.com